Exciting Inaugural NYPL Gets Underway

By John L. Aaron
July, 23rd, 2009
(Teams Below)
The long-awaited Ed Ahmad Cup replacement tournament gets underway this Saturday in New York City. Dubbed the NYPL (New York Premier League), the six-team Twenty20 tourney will feature some of the top players in the New York metropolitan area, and some “imports” from the Ed Ahmad Cup which was hit by the harsh economic times now facing the sponsorship of many sports.

Some of New York top cricketers will be on display on Saturday, (pictured top to bottom) Dennis Evans, Andrew Gonsalves, Barrington Bartley and Abdullah Syed.

The Ed Ahmad Cup has been the premier cricket tournament in the New York area for many years, having replaced the former Red Stripe tournament – an annual fixture on the New York cricket calendar and dating back to the 80’s. The latter two tournaments have seen a patriotic level of competition involving representative teams from Barbados, Guyana, India, Jamaica, Leeward Islands, Pakistan, Trinidad & Tobago, and the Windward Islands, among others.

As 2009 dawned upon us and the likelihood of no Ed Ahmad Cup this year, New York’s regional cricket Representative Krish Prasad, successfully led the charge in securing sponsorship for a replacement tournament – the NYPL. The major sponsors of the inaugural NYPL are Dave Imports, Dr. Stanley Sohan, and Stonewall Contracting. With the prize money expected to top $10,000.00 the tournament is attracting a lot of attention among players in the metropolitan area, with teams scrambling to carve the names of premier players into their rosters, and before the play-offs, since all players must have played in at least one match prior to the play-off and finals.

One unique feature of the NYPL is its unrestricted accommodation of any Under-19 player in the tournament. Thus any player under 19 years old, who was registered at the commencement of the tournament, will be allowed to participate in any of the rounds without match restrictions regarding number of games previously played.

The NYPL is viewed by many in the New York metro area as the forerunner to a much larger format Premier League, expected to be conducted in the USA, and along the lines of the Indian Premier League (IPL), a tournament that has taken the world by storm and captured the attention of more than 1.25 billion television viewers around the world.

According to NYPL Tournament Commissioner Krish Prasad, “This tournament will generate more buzz, excitement and competitiveness, than the Ed Ahmad Cup did.” The long-time cricket administrator and New York Regional Representative on the USA Cricket Association’s board of directors, was confident that the high tournament expectations will be met, as is the tradition with the New York style of cricket.

At a standing-room-only meeting held on Wednesday evening at the Golden Arrow Sports Bar and Restaurant in Queens; tournament officials, “franchise” owners, sponsors, umpires, players and supporters hammered out the last minute details to get the tournament started on Saturday, July 25.

The six teams registered in the tournament are Singh’s Sporting Goods XI, New York Titans, Pakistani XI, Bedessee Destroyers, Metro Superstars, and Cricket Zone Enforcers. Some of the matches will be played at the newly dedicated cricket ground located at 80th Street and Seaview Avenue, in Canarsie, Brooklyn.

Opened earlier this summer by several Brooklyn politicos and New York City Parks personnel, the New York City owned picturesque cricket field is the perfect setting for such a tournament. Well landscaped along trendy environmental guidelines and in a family-friendly environment, the ground was the stage for the recent PSAL championship final won by Newcomers High School for the second straight year.

There are five rounds of matches for this inaugural NYPL tournament, with the first two rounds scheduled, as follows.

Round One – Saturday, July 25, 2009
1. Pakistani XI vs. Bedessee Destroyers - 11am @ 80th Street/Canarsie, Brooklyn
2. Singh’s Sporting Goods vs. New York Titans XI - 3pm at 80th Street/Canarsie, Brooklyn
3. Metro Superstars vs. Enforcers - 11am @ Floyd Bennett Cricket Ground, Brooklyn

Round Two – Saturday, August 8, 2009
1. Singh’s Sporting Goods vs. Pakistani XI – Venue and time TBD
2. Bedessee Destroyers vs. Metro Superstars – Venue and time TBD
3. New York Titans vs. Enforcers – Venue and time TBD

Other scheduled dates for the tournament are August 22, September 5, 7 and 19, with the details of the finals to be announced shortly.

For more information contact: Krish (516) 241-1138, Rudy (917) 682-6142, Trevor (917) 620-9290 or John (917) 861-9110.

Bedessee Destroyers: Shashi Hijaree, Mark Gomes, Sean Stanislaus, Romeno Deane, Azamadeen Khan, Vishal Ramlochan, Manraj Seepersaud, Raphique Payne, Bryson De Freitas, Antonio Chan, Annush Mahadeo, Troy Harper, Carl Wright, Joseph Peters, Mikail Miller, Adrian Gordon, Adam Sanford, Carlos Roberts. Coach: Linden Fraser

Metro Superstars: Ajaz Asgarally (captain), Ricky Kissoon (vice-captain), Azurdeen Mohammed, Dennison Thomas, Nyaem Baksh, Abdullah Syed, Manoj Sirju, Kavishwar Bridgepaul, Chad Monroe, Brian Ajodhi, Andrew Ajodhi, Zaaid Majeed, Ken Nandkumar, Leikram Latchman, Mustaq Yussuff, Rasheem James, Tamesh Balwant, Kerk Higgins, Sunesh Wazid, Tavendra Pooran

New York Titans: Andrew Gonsalves, Barrington Bartley, Carl Wright, Dennis Evans, Derrick Kallicharran, Dwayne Smith, George Adams, Gregory Sewdial, Karan Ganesh, Kevin Darlington, Marlon Kallicharran, Narsingh Deonarine, Naseer Islam, Rashad Marshall, Richard Staple, Ron Andrews, Sharaz Baksh, Stuart Mills, Sudesh Dhaniram, Zamin Amin
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